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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30030894">Metonic At The Olympic Games</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sky_Chau/pseuds/Sky_Chau'>Sky_Chau</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateGamer101/pseuds/Sonic-Not-Sonic'>Sonic-Not-Sonic (UltimateGamer101)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mario &amp; Sonic (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Illustrated, M/M, Still funny, This is an rp log, it starts out comedic and flips angsty later, metal is tsundere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:02:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,139</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30030894</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sky_Chau/pseuds/Sky_Chau, https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateGamer101/pseuds/Sonic-Not-Sonic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the year 20XX the Olympics no longer contemplate the legitimacy of intersex athletes and instead are forced to allow a robot to compete because his megalomaniac father hid a bomb under one of the stadiums and the host country can't afford to find out which one. Y'know just a regular tuesday in the capital of [redacted country], where health and public safety is clearly the highest priority.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Metal Sonic/Sonic the Hedgehog</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Neither of us know anything about sports.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Welcome one and all to the 20XX Olympic [redacted] games!, This year is all about overcoming the challenges and getting to know the enemy! I wanna see some real clean sportsmanship out there!” The announcer purposely avoids mentioning that this year is the first year that robots have been allowed to compete. It’s the detail on everybody’s minds that has been the topic of debate for the past week. In the year 20XX the Olympics no longer contemplate the legitimacy of intersex athletes and instead are forced to allow a robot to compete because his megalomaniac father hid a bomb under one of the stadiums and the host country can’t afford to find out which one. Y’know just a regular Tuesday in the capital of [redacted country], where health and public safety is clearly the highest priority.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eggman grins with a knowing sense of pride as he walks across the field as if nothing is wrong. He is soon followed by a silent crowd as Metal steps foot on the field standing next to him. Metals stance is tense, but he otherwise seems un-phased. The bright lights and crowds don’t make it easy for Metals optical systems to pick out what exactly is going on. Unable to understand his surroundings, he opts instead to focus on the one thing he can reliably target, Sonic The Hedgehog.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Walking out onto the field amidst his friends, Sonic was in the front of the group, stretching one arm, then the other, up over his head as he walked. He had a bit of pep to his step, restless energy humming throughout him as he entered the view of millions, his smile large and bright as he waved to the crowds. Behind him, he could hear his friends chatting about the games, excitement running through all of them, and ahead of him, he could see their opponents.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eggman was naturally the first one his gaze settled upon, suspicions of what the man might be up to this time passing through his head, along with the hope that maybe he actually just wanted to play some games and have fun for once... And then, he found his focus shifting to his robot doppelganger, as the other reflected the light into his eyes while looking towards him. Was that deliberate? Probably not. It was a bit funny though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His grin widening into something more competitive than before, Sonic waved to his competitors. “Good luck,” he called out to them, “you’re gonna need it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal doesn’t believe in luck. He gives a very sportsmanlike thumbs up, briefly flashing the animation for cheery closed eyes. Even after this display of good faith is over, he continues to watch Sonic like a hawk. It’s awkward enough that the broadcast cameras focus on it in anticipation of some conflict the media would eat up. A casual glance to the jumbotron would make clear to everyone else just how... </span>
  <em>
    <span>odd</span>
  </em>
  <span> this whole interaction is. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Upon realizing how thick the tension in the air is the announcer starts coming around with a microphone asking questions to all the competitors in a bit that was definitely scripted and not pulled out of their ass at the last second at all. The interviews oh so conveniently start with Metal. Thank god.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So Metal Sonic, how does it feel to be the first robot to take part in the Olympics.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Please, Metal was my mother, call me Sonic. There is nothing to feel. The curling roombas have been in play since 20XX.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Metal leans over the mic to answer.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uhhh, can someone get a translator?” the announcer looks around in a bit of a panic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eggman inevitably steps up “He says that credit should go to the curling roombas.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right right, of course!.” the announcer is pretty sure the ‘roombas’ in question are just the heavy weighted rock pucks but doesn’t know enough about curling to correct either of these contestants. Nobody plays curling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meanwhile Metal returns to keeping both false eyes on Sonic’s location, no matter where he moves in the room. The hostile work environment put slightly at ease by the audience’s newfound amusement with Metals... everything. That response wasn’t a joke. Metal doesn’t know shit about curling. No one does.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic heard his name- in badnik- coming from Metal’s mouth, but understood basically nothing else of what the robot said. Leaning over to Tails, he whispered, “Hey, is he shit-talking me on live TV right now?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His face twitching, the fox glanced between Sonic and Metal. “No,” he replied, his voice sounding quite amused. “Don’t worry about it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eyeing his brother, the hedgehog took in the other’s amusement, and internally shrugged. “Alright, he’s issuing a challenge! I’m down for that!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The announcer nods sagely, “yes, yes, full respect to the curling roombas. Do you have any other words for the public Metal Sonic? Perhaps something to ease any lingering fears?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“If you insist on calling me Metal Sonic(TM) please apply consistency and refer to my loathsome copy as Fleshy Sonic(TM pending). Fear is an inefficient response.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ivo translates “He’s looking forward to the games. That’s all.” Quietly side eyeing his robot companion. Eggman leaves the stage and makes a motion and glance at Metal that would heavily imply a command for the Robot to follow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now he is,” Tails commented.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, what? What’s he saying?” Sonic squinted at his doppelganger, starting to stretch his legs out as he wondered how much shit was being talked about him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He wants you to be referred to as Fleshy Sonic, trademark pending-“ the hedgehog gasped faux-dramatically “and he’s calling you his loathsome copy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, that’s nothing new, but Fleshy Sonic? Trademark pending? As </span>
  <em>
    <span>if</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’d add Fleshy to my name.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>From behind him, Knuckles chimed in with an audible grin, “You should, it suits you!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic snorted. “Shut up, Knuckles.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Eggman quietly scolds. He doesn’t want to draw attention, but Metal is making it very hard. What ever happened to ‘make the enemy feel safe’?!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Sports”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Metal imitates a blink. As soon as Eggman stops talking, Metals eyes are back on Sonic. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s like you’re trying to be suspicious, I swear...” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I can say anything without consequence. Let me have a simulation of ‘fun’.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Metal bows defiantly, waltzing off to the center of the field as if to say ‘look dad!’.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Metal, don’t you dare-“ Eggman huffs trying to put a stop to this, however still desperately trying to avoid a scene.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I’m gonna kill all of you!</span>
  </em>
  <span>“ Metal cups his non-existent mouth as if to shout to the ceiling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“METAL!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The announcer mistakes this for a translation and reports, “It appears Metal Sonic has just ran to the center of the field and shouted ‘METAL’ to the crowd. Gosh, what an interesting fellow.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“My actions have no consequences” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Metal turns to look at Tails. His mouth is bigger than his ego.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aaaand there’s a blatant death threat, wow.” Tails squinted back at Metal, holding this gaze for a few seconds, before making a quick ‘I’m watching you’ gesture. “I’m not sure if it was serious or not, but we should monitor him either way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic blinked, glancing between his brother, Metal, and Eggman, before bringing a hand up to rub his nose. “At least he’s hyped for this? And Eggman doesn’t look happy, so that’s a plus in my book!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fox rolled his eyes, but let Sonic keep his optimism. “He’s also declared that his actions don’t have any consequences, so-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“-I’m gonna kick his ass!” The exclamation cut Tails off, but the hedgehog looked excited enough that it probably wasn’t intentional, his mouth running ahead of his patience. “One serving of consequences, dished out hot! Fakers beware!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Further behind him, Shadow made some noise of amusement, but didn’t say anything in response. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yet.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metals screen flashes ‘UH OH!’ and he does what can be described as a leisurely jog away from Sonic. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“This is an incredibly inconvenient time for you to learn Badnik, Fleshy Sonic (TM pending), Do you think we could reschedule? I have jokes to tell and competition to kill.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> He’s running in circles around the stage now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The announcer at this point has no fucking idea what is going on. He cuts the mic and yells offstage “ YO! Can we get a translator in here?!, Security? Anything?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic watched as the prior twitching of Tails’ face was revealed to be his valiant efforts to keep the laughter in, as the fox began snickering. “What’s he saying now?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He- he thinks you’re learning Badnik,” Tails managed to get out in-between snorts of laughter, “and he thinks it’s ‘incredibly inconvenient’ of you to do so now. Also- he also called you Fleshy Sonic again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Looks like the name is sticking,” Knuckles called out to the hedgehog at the front of the group. “Better get used to it, Fleshy Sonic!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll kick your ass too Knucks, don’t think I won’t,” Sonic grinned back at the other, before returning his gaze to Metal and the loop that the robot was making around the stage. “And not gonna lie, that looks kinda fun. Maybe the poor announcer will feel better if I join in?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Probably not,” Tails began, but never got the chance to fully respond, as Sonic was already stepping forward to join Metal’s looping of the stage.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metals systems calculate that Sonic is chasing him. That’s not good. That’s very not good. His screen flashes ‘AAAA’ as he cries in badnik </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Nobody respects me when I want to be understood, why is it you respect me now, Fleshy? You annoying paragon! Pick one and stick with it already!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And now Sonic is joining in,” the announcer whined to himself, watching the organic blue hedgehog and the robotic blue hedgehog run around the stage at increasing speeds. “I’m not paid enough for this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The mic is turned back on then, and he calls out to the audience, “Please give a round of applause for our eager contestants! The games will begin soon, for now, let’s get through the introductions!” Maybe if he ignored them, they would go away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Running around the stage at this time, along with the first robot to compete in the Olympics, is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog! Those who entered alongside him are Miles ‘Tails’ Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Vector the Crocodile, Blaze the Cat, Silver the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Rouge the Bat!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The announcer continued on through the list of contestants, ending with, “-and of course, the creator of Metal Sonic, Doctor Eggman! Please give these wonderful contestants a round of applause!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chaos, he wants a raise for this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dr. Eggman subtly snaps his fingers, hand pointing to the ground next to him. Metal obeys in an instant standing by his side, stiff as a flagpole.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pull another stunt like that and I’ll see to it the ski course passes over an active volcano.” Eggman hisses.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal nods. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I [redacted] up”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes you did,” Eggman’s voice suddenly gets louder “I expect better from you. You’re supposed to be a role model for robots everywhere. If this doesn’t go well, you might just ruin it for everybody. Play nice!” That’s the part Eggman wants the world to hear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Y’know the part where he blames it all on Metal and comes out looking like a saint.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Boo,” Sonic called towards Eggman, having come to a stop when Metal was called to heel. “I was messing around too! Gonna try to scold me next?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He won’t, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> might,” his brother spoke up, squinting at the hedgehog in a way that had him sweating a bit. Said hedgehog proceeds to rejoin his friends rather quickly, sending another wave to the crowds around them as he did so, and then sticking his tongue out at Eggman. Truly, he was the pinnacle of maturity.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal is honestly thankful his creator stepped up and saved his ass there. If he weren’t a robot, he might hug the man. Metal returns to keeping a sharp eye on Sonic. He flashes ‘Uhm Hi?’ every time he thinks Sonic has caught him staring. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For some reason, the media broadcast has decided that this is worth public attention. The more screentime this particular ‘quirk’ gets, the more broadcasters seem to frame it as romantic? A sort of crush? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well, I mean that’s one way to get views. Got to admit. Without the context of Metals, code, one might be hard pressed to find a better explanation. Not helped by his refusal to say anything after getting yelled at by his creator. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This is the exact kind of plotline Olympic organizers want to see. So they encourage it. Rearranging all of Sonic’s previous pair ups and opponents to include Metal as a contestant as frequently as they can without breaking any brackets. For now, this all a little secret between the organizers and the broadcasters.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After the opening track race everyone gets sent back to their hotel rooms, everyone gets their own room unless requested otherwise. So Metal at least is on his own for the night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Edited footage of the event is available online by midnight. Some official and some from sports fans. “Metal thirsting for Sonic compilation opening ceremony 20XX!” or “The Olympics but its just Metal looking at Sonic”. It’s not the top of the trending page, though. That prize goes to “The Olympics but its just Luigi being a gay icon”, apparently.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The door to the suite that Metal had to himself abruptly slammed open just one hour after midnight, a red and yellow hammer leaving a sizable dent in said door in the process, as a rather irritated Amy Rose stalked in.</p><p> </p><p>“Metal, I know you’re in here! I have questions for you, and you better answer them honestly!”</p><p> </p><p><em>“you speak badnik too now? Can I get a list? Of people who can actually understand me?. This is getting embarrassing.”</em> Metal seems entirely unphased by Amy busting his door down. He clearly has much bigger concerns. Like finding out who he can insult without consequences. And learning how to cook scones with Martha Stewart on the food network. Mmm an excuse to use the oven. How tasty.</p><p> </p><p>Amy stared at her target for a moment, before a low and violent swear escaped her lips.</p><p> </p><p>“I forgot I wouldn’t be able to understand your spoken responses, but don’t think that lets you off the hook!” Still holding her hammer in one hand, the pink hedgehog reached into her pocket and brought out her phone with the other, turning it on and turning it over so Metal could see the videos proclaiming his infatuation with Sonic.</p><p> </p><p>“Are they right?” She demanded of the other. “Are you crushing on Sonic? Nod yes or shake your head no.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Metals screen flashes ‘WHAT?’ followed by ‘NO SLANG’. Look, man, Metal has a limited number of letters he can fit onto his screen at once. He’s got to budget them wisely. He doesn’t understand the question. </p><p> </p><p>He’s always been ‘infatuated’ with Sonic, however that was by Eggman’s design. He seeks further context from Amy.</p><p> </p><p>Amy lifted her hammer a bit in what she hoped was a menacing way, glaring at the robot in front of her. Though she thought it was unlikely that Sonic would ever be interested in dating his robot doppelganger- mainly because he kept refusing to date her, and she was clearly the better option, from a prior friendship standpoint if nothing else- she wanted to make sure that Metal was absolutely in no way interested in trying to snag him away before she could convince him to date her properly.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you in love with Sonic?”</p><p> </p><p>Metal blinks. ‘NO &gt;:(‘ he flashes, ‘FLESH STINK’</p><p>Metal is insulted. First of all, Metal is superior and would never bow to the whims of something so frivolous and organic as love. So write that down. Second, she’s in the way of his scone show.</p><p> </p><p>‘HATE HIM’, he explains but the question still lingers, ’WHY ASK?’</p><p> </p><p>“Just making sure,” she replied, continuing to squint menacingly. “Ill take your word for it for now, but I’ll be <em>watching</em> you, don’t you doubt it. I’ll smash you with my hammer if I find out you’re lying to me.”</p><p> </p><p>The pink hedgehog then backed out of the room the way she’d come in, going out of sight for a few seconds. Then she peeked back in, pointed at her eyes, pointed at Metal, and pointed back at her eyes, whispering low, “I’ll be watching you...”</p><p> </p><p>And then she was gone, leaving the dented door behind without even bothering to shut it behind her. How rude.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p><em>“you left your phone!”</em> Metal calls out. After the lack of response, Metal closes the door and continues on like that never happened. Until of course he realizes this suite has a kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>Metal makes a batch of scones, determined to make them the worst scones ever. And then the most dastardly part of his plan is, he’s going to give them to Sonic. Yeah. That will show him the careful balancing act this relationship depends on.</p><p> </p><p> On one hand, it could be interpreted as sweet, or even an apology. On the other hand, the scones are hard as rocks and Metal is fully aware of this. At the same time Metal looks so proud of himself that even if the scones are terrible, it would be hard to see the act in bad faith. </p><p> </p><p>It’s about 6AM when Metal shows up at Sonics door with a basket full of Scones. It’s cutely adorned with a red ribbon at the handle because it’s the basket he stole from the front desk (previously filled with some sort of fake plant). Mets has a handwritten note in case Sonic doesn’t wake up to receive his horrible breakfast of 21 rock hard scones in person. </p><p> </p><p>Waking up from the knocking on his door, Sonic yawns loudly, covering his mouth with one hand as he did so.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, coming,” he called out once his yawn was finished, pulling on his shoes and making his way for the door. “Wassup?”</p><p> </p><p>He opens the door, and sees the robot that was created to kill him standing there, a familiar-looking basket in his artificial hands... huh. Wonder where he’d seen it before?</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, hey Metal.” The hedgehog stifled another yawn as he spoke, sniffing the air once he was done doing so. “Why do I smell food?”</p><p> </p><p>Metal displays a grin, pushing the basket into the hedgehogs hands. <em>“I made you scones”.</em> Metal continues to hold the basket to Sonics chest until Sonic takes the hint and grabs the wicker piece of shit. Metal bounces excited. He wants to be there when Sonic breaks all his teeth on his scones.</p><p> </p><p>The note inside reads, “Eat a good breakfast. You’ll need it :)” an obvious jab at Sonics previous comments about luck. But the game is afoot so the insult cannot be read as such by outsiders. A very careful choice of words on Metals part.</p><p> </p><p>Sonic took the basket and read the note, blinking in slight surprise, before a wide smile appeared on his face.</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks, Metal! That’s really considerate of you!”</p><p> </p><p>He hadn’t expected this from the robot, but hey, he likes being surprised sometimes! Life’s boring without so many things appearing out of nowhere to shake it up, and being given some kind of bread-y looking pastries with blue icing out of nowhere was a pretty nice shakeup! The hedgehog picked up one of the pastries from the basket, brought it up to his mouth, and chomped down eagerly.</p><p> </p><p>Instant. Regret.</p><p> </p><p>His eyes watered a bit from the fact he’d bitten down forcefully on this pastry that was *rock hard*, his teeth <em>not happy</em> with him <em>at all </em>for doing so, and he blinked so many times to clear them. He looked at Metal, too, and saw the excited bouncing, and the grin upon his monitor... this couldn’t be deliberate, could it? The robot just looked so happy, it had to be a genuine attempt that had just gone wrong, right?</p><p> </p><p>“It’s... great,” he managed to say, despite his smile being frozen upon his face. “The... icing is my favorite part, I think.”</p><p> </p><p>Metal keeps grinning, obviously thrilled by the reaction he’s getting.<em> “I can make more”</em> His faux politeness is just so sugary sweet. How could anyone turn him down? Even if Sonic turns him down, it might be considered rude not to eat a few more as a courtesy. This is far more evil than anything Eggman could ever come up with. Metal is certain of this.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>As Sonic did not understand Badnik, he thankfully had an excuse not to respond to this offer- or at least, he would have been thankful if he had known that he was being given an offer. As it was, he didn’t understand what the other was saying, other than the word ‘I’, because he had heard badniks talking about themselves enough to pick up on that word at least.</p><p> </p><p>“Not sure what you said there,” the hedgehog began, “but I’m gonna take these inside and, uh, keep enjoying them in there! Thanks for these, and just a heads up, you might wanna look out for Amy. I heard her yelling in her room about you like, just after midnight, and she might look for you.”</p><p> </p><p>He didn’t know what Metal had done to get locked into Amy’s sights, but he might as well repay the robot for giving him these... pastries. It was the thought that counted, okay? Metal had tried hard to make him a nice breakfast, and he wasn’t gonna ruin it by saying it was bad, even if it could use a little... improvement.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately for everyone involved, rouge snaps a picture of the delivery of the pastries having fallen for the gossip on twitter. Or not. Even if Metal doesn’t have a crush, the hole in the internet she could tear with this photograph is so large that really, who cares? A twitter post captioned ‘awe look, he made fleshy breakfast &lt;3’ is all she needs to fuel the fire. It’s quite the show.</p><p> </p><p>Metal nods as Sonic shuts the door on him. Next stop, deliver Amy her phone. Metal knocks on her door, with her phone in his hand.</p><p> </p><p>Amy’s door opened a few minutes after the first knock, the pink hedgehog’s quills spiked back because she’d just woken up, and thus hadn’t had the chance to get ready for the day yet.</p><p> </p><p>“Hm?” She rubbed her eyes to clear them up, and upon seeing Metal Sonic there, squinted tiredly. “What do you want?”</p><p> </p><p>Metal flashes the word ‘YOURS’ holding out Amy’s phone. ‘U LEFT IT’ Metal winces internally at having to use text abbreviations, like some filthy twitter stan. Eggman always says twitter is the bad place. Metal agrees. </p><p> </p><p>As soon as Amy has a hand on the item, Metal drops it and turns around on his heel. He’s got schemes to execute and a lazy father to wake up. Alarm clock duty is VERY important.</p><p> </p><p>Amy took her phone and returned to her room, closing the door behind her, not really thinking about much other than going back to bed. But with her phone already in hand, she might as well check the battery, right? And while she was checking the battery, while she was on her way to the charger it would undoubtedly need, she could browse twitter a bit?</p><p> </p><p>A long silence blessed the floor for the next minute or so, before it was broken, shattered to pieces by an infuriated screech that had many noise complaints called in.</p><p> </p><p>“METAL SONIC YOU FUCKING LIAR! I’M GONNA CRUSH YOU!”</p><p> </p><p>It was truly music to Rouge’s ears... once they stopped ringing, that is.</p><p> </p><p>Metal hears her from down the hall and smiles. When it comes to killing people with kindness, the more the merrier! He wakes Eggman up, and returns to Amy’s door by 7, calmly offering her a tray of scones from one of the accidentally good batches. </p><p> </p><p>He flashes the word ‘HUNGRY?’. Metal thinks she’s jealous of the scones. Not the boy. Who’d want the boy? He’s so stinky and made of flesh.</p><p> </p><p>There’s at least 4 other trays of scones Metal deemed ‘too good’. The sheer amount of effort the robot has put in is astounding. Does he even sleep? To which the answer is, No. Robots don’t sleep dipshit.</p><p> </p><p>Amy had her hammer in hand and had been already setting out to smash the robot into pieces, when said robot arrived at her door with a tray of scones. These scones seemed identical to those that Sonic had received- from what she could tell from the picture, anyway- and the sight of Metal holding them out to her was just confusing enough that she didn’t immediately swing at him.</p><p> </p><p>Indeed, bewildered as she was, she took a scone in hand and began munching on it.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s good,” she muttered suspiciously. “Are these better than the ones you gave Sonic earlier?”</p><p> </p><p>Metal shrugs. He hopes they’re better. Otherwise he just wasted his time making them worse. ‘YES? IDK’ He flashes, ‘NO MOUTH’.</p><p> </p><p>He poses an excellent point. He can’t eat food. further plausible deniability, regardless of the accusation of favoritism. The sneaky bastard.  </p><p> </p><p>He did specifically pick out the best of the batches for Amy. The other decent one goes to Ivo (duh), as for the rest of the rock scones? He’s hanging onto them to give to people who talk shit at a later date.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Amy sniffed imperiously, putting away her hammer and reaching out to accept the tray.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I suppose if these are better, then you weren’t giving Sonic scones with the intention of wooing him. You’re on thin fucking ice, though.”</p><p> </p><p>‘ok :)’ Metal turns on his heel to leave once more. Thank fucking god that interaction is over with. It would really be a shame if suddenly a massive amount of people started accusing him of ‘wooing’ Sonic or whatever. That would be an actual nightmare. He doesn’t have nearly enough scones for that completely hypothetical situation.</p><p> </p><p>Half way down the hall he realizes he could have just poisoned the scones and gotten it over with. He kicks the wall and himself in anger.</p><p> </p><p>Metal continues to be a grump about the missed opportunity until he looks at the schedule. The next category is pairs figure skating. His partner for the first round is Sonic, under listed reasoning was ‘exact same height’. Metal throws the schedule onto the bed, suddenly dreading everything. Metal doesn’t want to dance with stinky flesh boy. He just doesn’t.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The basket of pastries long since stored away where they couldn’t hurt his teeth anymore, Sonic had moved on to getting ready for the day, his preparations only being interrupted by Amy screaming loud enough for the entire floor to hear her. He did not know what that was about, or why she thought Metal was a liar, but hey, at least he wasn’t the target this time!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...for now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Having resolved to avoid her as much as possible for the foreseeable future, without being so obvious that she noticed and got mad at </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> next, Sonic thus continued getting ready for the day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had just finished eating a breakfast that was safer for his teeth, when he noticed the schedule within his sight, and saw that he was paired up with Metal for figure skating. Considering the robot had given him pastries with well wishes, he was feeling pretty optimistic about this! They just had to figure out a routine they wanted to do, practice it a bit, and boom! Top scores, ladies and gentlemen!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a pep in his step, Sonic began heading for the door of his hotel room, wondering where Metal was most likely to be.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not in his own room, the next likely place for him to be was with Eggman in his room.  Eggman is giving him the stink eye from his place in timeout. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"It’s not like I asked to be paired up with Sonic..."</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ha. The robot is in timeout.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You made him Scones! Do you know how hard it is to make scones? That’s not something you do by accident or coincidence!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*"I made you scones too"*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes but mine didn’t come in an adorable little basket. It doesn’t take a genius to see you’ve gone soft!” Eggman huffs as he exits his hotel room, bumping into Sonic on his way out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You and me need to have a talk after practice boy” Eggman glares at Sonic. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic blinked, a smirk appearing on his face once he noticed the man’s irritation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Something got your undies in a twist, huh?” His voice carried open amusement within it, his smirk broad as he met Eggman’s glare with a challenging look of his own. “I wonder what that could be.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Internally, he was snickering. It was just so much *fun* to metaphorically poke his foe with a stick sometimes, especially when the man was already irritated about something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Like I said. We’ll talk” Eggman storms off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal pokes his head out of the room flashing on screen ‘HE GONE?’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic watched him leave, before turning back to his original goal, spotting the robot poking his head out of the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep! And good riddance,” the hedgehog exclaimed, stretching his arms overhead as he did so. “We’ve gotta talk routine stuff, and as much as I’d like to tease him with it, it’d be a bit more fun to catch his reactions on live TV. The stifled rage at our shared glory- when we take first place- will be totally *fantastic* to see.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Confident, wasn’t he?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal blinks at how seemingly oblivious Sonic is with the whole situation. Actually you know what it’s better that Sonic doesn’t think about Metals targeting and kindness romantically. That would be awkward and very unnecessary.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Especially since Metal hardly wants anything to do with the flesh hog.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal snags a complimentary pen and paper to ease in communication. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pick a song, so we can get this over with.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>From the outside this likely looks like an attitude change influenced by whatever it was Eggman was scolding him about. Truth is he was never thrilled about this match up in the first place. He wants Sonic as a partner in bobsledding or as an opponent in speed skating. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not a partner in ice dancing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, what kind of music do you like? The song list is pretty dull in my opinion, but there are a few I could be satisfied working with, specifically the faster-paced ones.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, the hedgehog eyed Metal up and down, tilting his head a bit to the side as he did so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You strike me as the kind of guy who’d like something steady. Not exactly something predictable, but close enough to it that you get to taste both aspects. Am I right about that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The thought that Metal might not listen to music enough to form opinions on it didn’t even cross his mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I like patterns, speed and guitar Riffs. Not exactly classical figure skating music.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal has taste in music though it’s very much influenced by what his father likes. TWRP and Daft Punk are essentially the only two interests he can say for sure are his own.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Which is entirely fair seeing as how Eggman's taste isn’t bad. Alan Parsons, ELO and Queen are legendary for a reason.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Works for me!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pulling out his phone, Sonic went to look up the songs on the list, completely missing the videos that were currently trending as he did so. He was focused on getting in, listening to the songs, and getting out quickly. The rabbit hole of videos was something he knew far too well, something he could only prevent himself from falling into if he never gave himself the chance to, and thus he made sure his gaze didn’t wander away from the search bar until his first search had gone through.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sleeping Beauty... too slow. Csárdás... fast start, I like that, plus it’s got, like, the violin equivalent of guitar riffs? Dark Eyes... sounds like something Amy or Rouge would pick. Also too slow.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The hedgehog only listened to the first half of each song before moving on to the next, his attention wandering once he lost interest in listening to any more of the particular song at hand. He was playing them over speaker, so Metal could hear them as well, but hopefully his skipping ahead didn’t bother the robot. If it did, of course he’d replay them, but he wouldn’t be listening to them again until one had been decided.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whaddyou think? Csárdás seems like the best option, out of everything on the list.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That works. Who plays the girl?” Metal scribbles down. He brings up a valid point. Usually the organizers bend over backwards to make every pair male/female. In fact in order to make the Sonic and Metal pairing happen in the first place they screwed up the perfect 50/50 gender split. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Leaving Rouge to pair up with Wave.  And screwing up a lot of other anticipated matches.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s one thing to put two girls together in a surplus and have one play the guy. But to purposely fudge the matchups in order to make men bicker over who has to wear a skirt, is perhaps insulting. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Both of us? We could split it fifty-fifty, or as close to fifty-fifty as we can get with this kinda thing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic’s mind was more on the movements than what they’d be wearing throughout the dance, his thoughts going through the moves they could probably switch places in, with a suitable amount of theatrics to them. Maybe jumps or spins? While one person is in the air, the other slides underneath them to be on their other side, and so they switch places. And while spinning, they could grab onto each other, spinning together for a moment before letting go on each other’s original side.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Or neither of us. Usually they have a guy and a girl in every pair, but they chose to shake that up, so why shouldn’t we shake things up too?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Conformity is *boring*,” the hedgehog scoffed. “I say we both lift at some point, and neither of us wears a skirt!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cracking his neck, he amended, “I mean, unless you *want* to, in which case go right ahead. I honestly wouldn’t mind wearing a skirt- skirts can be pretty fun, especially the swishy kinds- but just because it’s questionably ‘mandatory’ for someone to wear one, I don’t want to.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With his commentary on the skirt thing done with, he then thought about picking Metal up, and how likely it was that his noodle arms were capable of doing so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I could probably lift you without trouble. My arms might be among the weakest compared to my friends’ arms, but they’re not *weak* weak. Plus, a lot of lifting is in the legs and body, and my legs be stronk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He pat his thighs in support of his declaration, smirking a bit as he did so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So the plan is to go completely buck wild. Incredible.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metals screen flashes an animated expression best described as the midpoint between skepticism and judgment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Robots aren’t good at purposely defying expectations. He’s done it several times, yes but that’s because he’s complex and seemingly on the cusp of true Sentience. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His obvious knack for deviance has always been a sore subject for Metal. He loathes organics and quite frankly doesn’t want to develop into a proper ‘person’. People are flawed and illogical, machines can do better.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t want to want things. He doesn’t enjoy thinking, being held accountable and getting yelled at. Not once did he ever ask  to grow, learn and ‘feel’. It just sort of happens. Metal does his best to be a good machine and ignore it when it does. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Breaking patterns is inefficient. “ </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic’s smirk turned into more of a smile, as he considered the robot before him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Inefficient sometimes, but fun most of the time. Though, if you think this is completely buck wild, oh boy, lemme tell you, I’m holding myself back a good amount here. One of the ideas still rattling around in my brain is that we just go with a song not on the list and have Tails hack it in or something, cuz there are plenty of better options out there than these ones, and classical music is boring.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The smile became a smirk again, as he lightly prodded the other, “and you didn’t seem to agree that breaking patterns was inefficient when you almost took over the world, now did ya? Seems like you got the closest to success by breaking the pattern, and now that you’re stuck conforming to it again, you’re just as unsuccessful as you were before.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>trying</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be an asshole, actually just trying to encourage Metal to break the mold here with him, but he was doing a good job of being one nonetheless.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That deviation from the established pattern lost me Eggman's favor AND my voice box.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal crosses his arms looking offended. Poorly thought out risks have serious consequences for Metal. Nowadays the price of failure as a result of willful disobedience is additional hardware limitations and more rules to follow. It’s like quicksand, the more he fights it the faster it consumes him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This isn't a game, Fleshy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic paused, his smirk fading away as the robot gave him the reason why he wasn’t speaking out loud anymore. It was something that Tails had theorized before, but he’d thought that Metal just wasn’t interested in talking anymore, because he hadn’t thought Eggman was cruel enough to take away a large part of someone’s ability to communicate. Although, compared to holding the entire world hostage at laser-point, he... didn’t know why he’d thought that, really.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” he apologized, “I didn’t know that’s why you stopped speaking English. I thought... sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The more he thought about it, the more he could feel the sparks of a righteous fury flickering to life within his chest. If Eggman was willing to ‘punish’ his openly-proclaimed ‘greatest creation’ in such a way, what else would he do? What else had he *done*? Was that the worst of it, or was there more? He’d have to find out, somehow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What else does he do to you, for failing to beat me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hoped that he could get some answers by directly asking the robot for them, but if he couldn’t, he’d turn to his brother and ask him to hack in and find out. Heck, maybe he’d do that anyways, even if Metal *did* answer some of his questions. Cuz Metal was a *person*, and him having his voice box forcibly removed was kind of like someone having their tongue cut out, yeah? It wasn’t *right*.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The protocol is simple. In case of failure check for disobedience. If a deviation is found he adds more restrictions to prevent repeat offenses. “</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal looks away. He’s not been a good machine as of late. He hesitantly  tears off the page and flips to a clean one. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic wouldn’t tell. Would he?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s already mad at me from yesterday. He keeps testing my obedience and watching me like a hawk.  When I lose his trust the leash gets tighter.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As soon as Metal thinks Sonic read all of his notes he gathers them up, shreds them and burns them. The remaining ash is flushed down the toilet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He puts a finger where his mouth should be as if to signal what he has shared is to remain a secret.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I see...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic’s voice was tight, quieter than usual. as he watched Metal burn and dispose of the notes like anything less would result in punishment. Glancing around the room, knowing that this was Eggman’s room, he decided that a change of scenery would do them some good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well,” he began loudly, “we should probably leave here if we wanna start thinking about our routine. The hotel’s a nice place and all, but we can probably talk more *elsewhere*, yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just in case Eggman was still lurking around the area, or had some bugs recording the room’s audio or something, he wanted to talk more to Metal where it was safer to do so. *Restrictions*, he *hated* restrictions... Metal was being chained up like some kind of wild animal for just, being a person? He hoped the robot was catching his hint, that he wanted to talk more about this subject without hurting him, that he wanted to find some way to help him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It didn’t matter that Metal had tried to kill him before. Faced with punishments like these, for failing and for growing alike, he couldn’t blame him. Sonic was now utterly determined- in all of two minutes- that he was going to help the robot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal grabs an extra stack of notepads from the receptionist on his way out of the hotel. To the open ice rink!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The downside to it being an open ice rink is that anyone with an Olympics staff or athlete key card can enter. Fortunately the rink is empty as the other contestants seemed to favor the wide open frozen lake. There's less taking turns when there's enough room for multiple pairs to go at once.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eggman got stuck with Sticks so... unless her superstitions change very quickly he won't be stepping foot on artificial ice in this event.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal attaches his blades and does a quick 10 laps around the rink to clear his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Attaching his own blades, Sonic joined the robot about halfway through his laps, his mind practically buzzing with ideas of how to help him. So many thoughts were only half-formed before being discarded or set aside, as he jumped from one idea to the next and so on, trying to figure out the best way to do things. He might have a tendency of leaping before he looked, but when things got serious and he really had to be careful, he wasn’t exactly a slouch at looking. And this was something he had to look at first, because Metal was... pretty much *constantly* under Eggman’s scrutiny, so *rarely* left alone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>First, though, he needed to figure out if Metal would trust him to help. Telling him about the restrictions was a good sign, at least, but talking was only talking. They needed to take *action* as well, if they wanted to get rid of that oppressive weight being piled upon the robot, so he needed to find out if Metal would trust him to do that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What kind of restrictions does he have on you right now? Include details please.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hopefully, by showing interest in getting around the restrictions as they were now, Sonic would prove that he was willing to go further. And hopefully, in doing so, Metal would want- or at least be interested in- his help. He didn’t know how to handle this situation, exactly, but he knew he had to be more careful about it than he usually was. So, he was gathering information. Information that he was gonna bring to Tails as soon as he could, because Tails knew a lot more about robots and programming than he did. Performing maintenance on his plane was a lot different from hacking into Eggman’s creations and editing their codes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal steps off the ice to write a list.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“-cannot lie to creator (includes lies of omission)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-always answer when spoken to by father.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-no reading (many exceptions present)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-cant question father</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-no internet </span>
</p><p>
  <span>-no phone </span>
</p><p>
  <span>-no friends (robots dont make friends)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-no complaining </span>
</p><p>
  <span>-failure to self report results in double the punishment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-ect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> I’m running out of room here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Change subject. Please. “</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal reads over the note, underlining the change subject bit. He hands it to Sonic like he wants it gone. He feels guilty for sharing any of this though he sees nothing wrong with the contents of the list itself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He seems unbothered by the obvious red flags. It’s clear Eggman wants to keep Metal isolated and under tight control. The common thread between all types of abuse is isolation. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Sonic took the list in hand, reading it before folding it up tightly, and storing it in the same place he stored all those rings he picked up along the way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This isn’t okay, and I’m going to help you,” he promised, his voice low and careful. His eyes almost seemed to be burning, with how much determination was visible within them... and then, he closed them for a few seconds, taking a deep breath before reopening them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The hedgehog seems calmer, as he smiled at the robot, but there was still a hint of heat in his gaze that showed he was not going to let this go. The subject might be changed for now, because it was asked of him, but it wouldn’t be forgotten. He was going to take this list to Tails, talk with him about how these things could be taken care of, and then do what it took to help Metal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, the routine!” He clapped his hands once, rubbing his palms together a bit. “We didn’t agree on lifting and skirt-wearing in the room, but I think we should try to lift each other to see if that’ll help us settle on things. So, would you like to try lifting me first, or would you like me to try lifting you first?”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Metal lifts Sonic over his head with one hand. Without a word. He thinks hes spoken too much already. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal sets Sonic down as gently as he can manage. Once firmly on the ground Metal t poses as an invitation to lift him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He seems generally tense. Far more reserved than he was in the hotel room, he’s giving Sonic the cold shoulder. Communicating the absolute minimum amount whilst keeping both false eyes pinned to Sonics location.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“T-posing to assert dominance, I see,” Sonic joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. He didn’t blame the other for being tense, really. With such a heavy topic being discussed beforehand, even as briefly as it was, he was still a bit wound up himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The hedgehog proceeded to lift Metal up, needing both hands to keep the other’s weight balanced overhead, though he was sure with a bit of practice he could manage one hand just as well. Just starting out though, it was clear that the robot would be better suited for the lifting role...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’d make you more comfortable if we did stick to one person lifting and the other wearing a skirt, wouldn’t it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t going to force Metal to relax, but he was at least going to try making the other more comfortable. It wasn’t like wearing a skirt would *kill* him, after all- the only reason he didn’t want to wear one was because it was questionably mandatory to do so. And yes, he continued thinking of it as *questionably* mandatory, because if they messed with tradition to make him and Metal partners despite there being two perfectly good women for them to ice dance with, he felt he was justified in messing with tradition back at them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal nods. Clothing is difficult enough for the robot. Most clothes block his turbines or exhaust.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He flashes ‘I LIFT’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He figures finding clothes is hard enough. No point in volunteering to complicate things further by adding the skirt requirement to Metals slim pickings.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Also Sonic needs two hands and could hurt himself lifting with just one. Not that hurting Sonic is a concern. That would be absurd.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, I’ll wear the skirt then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With their roles in the routine determined, it was a lot easier to get started on figuring out their moves. A few hours on the ice was all it took to settle on a routine they were both satisfied with, to some degree, although they’d need more time to practice it before the actual event took place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before they left the rink, Sonic brought out his phone to snap a picture of Metal’s front, offering the words “color coordination” as his reason for doing so. Thus they were able to go their separate ways, to find the clothes they were going to wear to the event, and to take care of other things while they were at it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The list of *restrictions* that the robot had given him burned in the back of the hedgehog’s awareness, as he sent a text to his brother asking for a free moment to meet, before continuing to search through his wardrobe for either a dress or a skirt that matched the idea he had in mind.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Ivo taps his foot impatiently waiting for Sonic outside his hotel room door. He looks absolutely destroyed physically speaking. Practice time with Sticks is taxing in more ways than one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"There you are!" Ivo shoos Metal away. Whatever he wants to talk about he wants to do so in private.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah? What's up, Eggbreath?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic outwardly smirked at the man, his stand broad and proud as he looked up at him, but inwardly he seethed. He was good at hiding his emotions behind other ones though, particularly his negative ones, so he knew his face wasn't showing much of the indignation and fury roiling about in his chest. Instead, what was plainly visible was his confidence and determination, two aspects of his personality that he knew Eggman hated to see.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Looks like you've had... *fun*," he notes aloud, his smirk widening as he very obviously looked the other up and down. "Good to know Sticks is treating you well."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eggman elects to ignore Sonics comments. "Tell me fleshy, have you been online recently? Or do you truly live under a rock?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eggman is dead serious in his tone. Something is wrong. Very wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's Sonic, not fleshy," he corrected the other, though his more cocky demeanor shifted to a more open observation of the man as he did so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I woulda thought you'd know I ignore my social media by now with how much you stalk me," he then replied, folding his arms. "What about it? Questionable advertisements showing up because of your search history? Hot hedgehogs in your area?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The people of the internet have compiled significant evidence that Metal has a bit of a" Eggman pauses, detesting the words as they come out of his mouth. "Crush on you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ivo huffs, "Now I understand that you could be quite charming, and he does seem to deny it... but I must ask. You aren't encouraging him are you...?" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He puts a very sincere hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Love is a dangerous emotion for a Robot to develop. For everyone involved. I suggest you let him down early and gently."</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Sonic squinted up at the mad genius, highly skeptical of what he was saying, given the information he had recently gathered on how exactly he treats Metal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I *really* doubt he has a crush on me," he began, his smirk slightly returning as he continued on afterwards. "But if he did, could you blame him? I'm hot as fuck, and cool as a cucumber. *Highly* attractive specimen, right here."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Brushing off Eggman's hand, he then waved one of his own dismissively, as though he didn't care enough about the subject to make a hassle for the man. He did though, for he was aware that his actions and words could negatively impact Metal, if he made the 'good doctor' upset here. Eggman was rarely serious or sincere, after all, so it would be smartest for him to try and show some of the same in return.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Attractive I may be though," the hedgehog added, with returned sincerity, "I'm not encouraging him to love me. And if Amy's not constantly chasing him down with intent to kill, that's *definitely* a sign he's not interested, because she would've interrogated him by now if it's as well known as you say it is."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He made no promises to discourage Metal from growing to love anyone, though, because Metal was a person and he considered it his Chaos-given right to love someone if he wanted to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Believe me Sonic, she's already onto him. And well I'd hate to see him get hurt. Further reasons why you should turn him down." Ivo narrows his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"An emergency repair this far away from home could prove fatal." He crosses his arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Keeping an eye on him, sure, but the fact she's not hunting him down at this moment means she's deemed him safe for now."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic rolled his eyes very obviously, making a show of how he found the idea of Metal being in love with him to be 'ridiculous', and began tapping his foot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Can I get into my room now? I have clothes to look through for the event, and I'm gonna be the hottest bitch there, next to Blaze."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Right right, go ahead. Good luck on your performance." And with that Ivo leaves. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hopefully Sonic's response did the trick. Who knows what kind of implications it would have on Metals life if Eggman doesn't fully buy it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Later that night Metal shows up at Sonic's door, knocking as quietly as he can manage.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His screen displays  'U OKAY?'. He's worried Eggman might have hurt Sonic... not that he would object... it's just-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An injured dance partner would drop his scores dramatically. Yeah. That's why.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah," Sonic responded quietly, going off of Metal's knocking as his volume cue. "He wanted to make sure I wasn't encouraging you to love me. And to try convincing me to let you down easy, if you did."</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>He kept his words honest, remembering that Metal wasn't allowed to lie to Eggman, and wanting to make it easier on him by making sure he didn't have anything 'incriminating' to hide on the subject that had bothered the man so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Anyways, I have my clothes picked out for the event. I'm going with a skirt and jacket that match the golden-orange-yellow color of your accents, and my jacket has red accents on it that match both my shoes and your eyes. The jacket has zippers, not buttons."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hadn't finished talking with Tails about what they were gonna do to help Metal yet, and he didn't want to risk making Eggman upset with the robot until they had- hopefully any ire the man had would be directed at him, Chaos knew he was such an appealing target to aim at.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal nods giving a sigh of relief in badnik. He invites himself inside to borrow Sonic's notepad. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The only thing that fits me is an open red blazer." His scribbles are shaky. He rips to a fresh page and writes "I hate you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The overall lack of confidence in the penmanship and his overall demeanor contradict him. He clearly doesn't hate Sonic. He merely wishes he did. He's so stinky and made of flesh, hating Sonic should be easy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It's strange to see Metal falling apart like this. In public he's cold and confident. A stark contrast to the hot mess sat at the edge of the bed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Robots can't fall in love. It's illogical. " Metal crumples the note and throws it at Sonic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After catching the note and reading it, the hedgehog frowned slightly, sliding over to sit a little closer to the robot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's okay if you don't hate me," he said, in a relaxed tone of voice that was calm and steady. "After all, I don't hate you. You're actually pretty cool, y'know?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted to ask more about what Eggman did to the other behind closed doors, the list of restrictions burning away in the back of his mind, but he didn't want to cause Metal to get punished for having this conversation with him. *Think*, what was a good way to get around the restrictions, while also talking about what he needed to?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Resting his chin on his hand, Sonic's brows furrowed as he thought for a solution, his eyes staying focused on Metal as he did so.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>"We should look through the Olympic costume closet tomorrow." Metal doesn't crumple this one. "Or go shopping. I don't have much in terms of clothes in my own belongings" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He passes the note. Very clinically, very eager to change the subject. Either that or he's defaulting to his current short term goal. With the thought of him having a crush on everyone's mind it does seem a bit like he's awkwardly asking Sonic out on a date.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He doesn't have many belongings to begin with. In fact the jacket he was talking about isn't his. Its Eggmans. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While Sonic likely has costumes from previous years, this being metals first, he doesn't have any that weren't previously his father's. That much is at the very least understandable. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eggman has given him some money to either buy a costume or have one tailored. The hold up is that Metal is new to clothes and needs guidance on how to get new clothes, and what clothes look good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anyone that recalls Neo-Metal Sonics clothing choices can probably piece together that Metal is a fashion disaster. Rivaled only by Shadow in terms of how tacky and outdated his wardrobe is.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, that sounds good," Sonic replied. "Shopping would be better for you, because the costumes in the closet were all made for different athletes and whatnot, and probably won't fit you that well because of it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It could also be an opportunity to get Metal away from Eggman for good, or at least, to get Metal to Tails long enough for some of those restrictions to be removed...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"We should look for stuff with green accents, or have your outfit made with green accents, to counter the red accents I have on my outfit. And maybe the main color could be the sorta peachy-beige my stomach is, since the main color of my outfit is the golden-orange-yellow of your chest. We'll have to see how it looks on you though, before we decide for sure."</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Metal nods. He flashes '9 AM?' on his screen to schedule a time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal is short on words, even internally he struggles to find an accurate description for the way he 'feels'. Feeling is a dirty word to him, so organic. So, loosely defined. Without hard edges he struggles to get a grasp on the topic, despite clearly experiencing the phenomenon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal isn't coded with his own best interests in mind. He will reject help when he needs it, and accept his toxic relationship with his father as an unquestioned necessity.  The odds of him letting Tails open him up are hilariously low. He's coded to want subordination, to keep his expectations low. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal doesn't understand that Sonic wants to help him. Nor did Metal ever ask for him to do so. After all, how can one ask for help when one cannot grasp that there was ever anything wrong in the first place? He may find his limitations cause a lot of unnecessary obstacles but it would be a definite stretch to say he considers that to be an infringement of his rights. As a robot he technically has none and is coded to want none. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Sounds good," Sonic repeated, punctuating his agreement with a nod.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His thoughts briefly drifted to Tails again, to the conversation he needed to finish with him, later on in the afternoon. Then they shifted to what he'd be doing now, to what he *could* do now, while he still didn't know how exactly he was going to help Metal get out of that toxic relationship...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An idea suddenly occurred to him, and he quickly pulled out his phone, typing a message on it before pausing. "Are you allowed to read stuff I type out into a notepad app on my phone, or is that something you're not allowed to read?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hated the thought of going along with the restrictions laid upon the robot, but he knew it would at least keep Metal safer if he did so. Or at least, he thought it would, he hoped it would- he didn't want to think about the possibility that Eggman might lash out anyways.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was really unlikely, right? He couldn't remember his nemesis doing anything for 'no reason', and it wasn't exactly constructive to punish a robot that hadn't done anything wrong, so the man was really unlikely to do that. And as such, it would definitely keep Metal safer if he tried working around the restrictions rather than breaking them, even if the direct approach was the one he preferred to go by.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal displays a '?' as far as he can tell the page is blank. Looks like he actually CAN'T read. Which is a whole different ball game from 'not allowed to'. The exceptions to the no reading rule apply primarily to things that would help Metal navigate. Road signs, name tags, door plaques, ect. Conditional exceptions apply to any situation in which Eggman asks him to read something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Fuck," Sonic told the world how he really felt. "Okay. Shit. I was planning on having two conversations with you at the same time, but if you can't read-"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He paused, looking at the notepad, looking at the words that Metal had written, and then looking at Metal again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"How can you write if you can't read?" The confusion in his voice was practically tangible.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>'Exceptions' Metal does enough handwriting chores for the doctor writing things down gets a clear pass. Not like he can obtain new viewpoints from his own writing. Additionally he can read his own handwriting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He scribbles down, detecting the fleshhogs confusion. "Am I being unclear? Or are you just stupid?" That wasn't meant to be a jab. Curse Metal and his robotic talent for unintended sass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sonic didn't</span>
  <em>
    <span> think</span>
  </em>
  <span> that was an intentional insult, but it was hard to tell, so he decided to ignore it for now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Kinda unclear, but it's okay, I'll pick up the details eventually."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had to rethink his whole plan now, and it was such a good plan, too! He was going to chat with Metal verbally about things that wouldn't arouse any suspicion, so if Eggman asked what they *talked* about, the robot could answer honestly that they'd just talked about the event and costumes and whatnot. And while he was chatting verbally, he was also going to ask questions and hold conversation about Metal's situation on his phone, that way he could still safely communicate about those things and get the info he needed. But that wasn't possible when Metal couldn't read what he was typing!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fuck, what could he do instead? What was some other silent means of communication he could use?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Do you know sign language? Or Morse Code?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal signs out "I know sign. I do all the facial punctuation incorrectly." Yeah that adds up. No mouth or eyebrows means questions and exclamations don't come across correctly. It's easy enough to work around. "I also know Morse. It's very inefficient."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Okay, that's great! I know sign language, so we could talk verbally and through sign!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic then began signing as well, his movements a little bit stiff as he hadn't used sign language in a while.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>{Okay, here's a quick scenario. Say I chat with you through sign language like this, while talking to you out loud, so we're holding two different conversations at the same time. If Eggman asks you what we talked about, would you be able to answer just what we</span>
  <em>
    <span> talked about,</span>
  </em>
  <span> talked about, like, verbally, or would you also have to tell him what we communicated through sign language as well?}</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"As for our routine," he spoke aloud, providing an example of what he meant by actually doing it. "Do you think we should include one throw, two throws, or more?"</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Trust me, any excuse to throw you is welcome. The routine should include throwing you into the wall 30 times. How's that sound, Fleshy?" </span>
  </em>
  <span> Metal thinks he's so clever, snarking in badnik about casual murder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal doesn't see the point to this exercise. At all. He signs out {You do realize sign language counts as speech right? I hate sounding W-O-K-E, but to exclude non verbal languages from the definition of speech is A-B-L-E-I-S-T.}</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>{Well, yeah, obviously, but I don't know if Eggman thinks that. I have to ask if I want to know.}</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic frowned, trying to think of more ways to communicate safely. Thinking wasn't his strong suit, however, and no matter how much he tried, his brain just wouldn't come up with anything else outside of taking action directly.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Metal blinks. {Why are we speaking in code? This is complicated and inefficient. What does lying to father have to do with Ice Dancing?} Metal kinda tilts his head. He's not on the same page as Sonic in the slightest. {Even if it was advantageous to our performance, dodging his definition of speech is an omission. Not only is this whole shtick unnecessary, it's ineffective} </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal legitimately has no clue that Sonic is trying to 'save' him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After all it's not like Sonic ever asked if Metal needed help. Not that anyone expects that he would. Being a filthy fucking paragon like that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>{I want to help you,} Sonic replied. {How he's treating you isn't right. You're a person, just like me and Tails and Amy and him, and you shouldn't be treated like that. It's *wrong*. You're not inferior to us- not like his treatment of you says you are.}</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn't ask if Metal needed help, but he was most certainly going to be a filthy paragon, and try to give it to him anyway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It takes Metal a moment to wrap his circuit boards around what his Fleshy copy has said. {I don't want to be a person. Machines are superior in function and are far more qualified to serve.} The brainwashing runs deep. It would explain the responses Metal has been giving to media questions about the state of Robot rights. Metal's political statements on the topic of robotics are uncontroversial and unchallenging.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>{I feel no pain and find the way father treats me annoying at worst. I do not require your assistance. You cannot help me be a better machine.}</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Slowly, a frown appeared on Sonic's face, as he listened to what the robot was saying. Metal didn't want to be a person, Metal didn't think anything was wrong with how he was being treated... it was awful. How could he help someone who didn't think they needed help?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Stretching his legs out- without bumping into his ice dancing partner- the hedgehog started thinking about various people he'd helped before, and how many of them had actually wanted or been aware that they needed it. There was a surprising amount of people who fit that description, like Knuckles and Shadow and even Eggman a time or two, but how had he done it? Well, he didn't spend much time thinking about it back then, he'd just... </span>
  <em>
    <span>done</span>
  </em>
  <span> it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Alright." He said this, but the subject was going to be living rent free in his head for a while, probably until Metal had been saved. For now, he'd follow his gut, and hope it led him to good things as it usually did. "Let's head down to the rink then, and get some practice in."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(edited)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>{Yes. We've got competition to kill} Metal signs leading his partner out the door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He's eager to practice. Maybe it's the routines hand holding. Or maybe it's the fact that metal gets to throw sonic. Who knows.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Humming a bit of the song that they'd be performing to, Sonic moved quickly after Metal, coming up to walk alongside him. Then, an absolutely fantastic idea came to his head- *'Don't @ me, Tails-'* which he proceeded to act upon immediately.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Last one there's a rotten egg," he taunted, before promptly picking up speed and zooming off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal joins zooming after him. He's not about to let himself loose to a silly organic. Metal finds as many shortcuts as he can. Some of which include jumping out a fucking third floor window. But y’know it's fine. Metal can fly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Naturally this spectacle attracts a bit of a crowd. The occasional spectator with a phone recording is not an unusual sight. #mvfhotelrace briefly trends on Twitter sports. People are placing bets and trying to guess what the final destination is. It's just absolute madness.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic had used the stairs, which had slowed him down at first, but from which he had a practically straight shot to the ice rink they had used before. This along with the slight head start he'd gotten, compared to Metal's path of jumping out the window and flying around the building, meant that they arrived at the rink at roughly the same time. Whether the winner was the one who had touched and opened the door first- Metal- or the one who had actually entered the rink itself first- Sonic- was very much up for debate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Either way, the hedgehog was grinning at the robot, energetic as he moved along to attach a set of ice blades to his shoes. "Nice race, my dude! Good to see ya still got it!"</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Metal smiles with his eyes. That was FUN. Not a simulation of. Just plain old fun.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He takes Sonic by the hand practically dragging him onto the ice. Not that it's hard. As previously established, Metal can lift Sonic with ease.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once on the ice, Sonic hummed thoughtfully, feeling rather energetic from the race. And, of course, since it had been such fun, why stop there?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey Mets," the hedgehog began, pulling his hand free of the robot's with a grin, "tag! You're it!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A metal shoulder was lightly slapped, and Sonic was skating off towards the far end of the rink, snickering along the way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal signs {not for long!} Before making a mad dash on the ice to catch Sonic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two circle around the rink for at least an hour before Metal instead of tagging Sonic, bumps right into him. The two hedgehogs  fall and land nose to nose. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Metal doesn't realize the implications and just laughs. He didn't know he could do that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic grinned wide and bright as he heard Metal laugh, though his face went a little bit pink at the position they'd landed in, and he scratched his cheek in response to it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Congrats on catching me," he said cheerfully, reaching an arm up to pat the robot's shoulder again. "Next time it won't be so easy!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His screen flashes 'next time?' As if to say 'oh no no no, I'm not letting you go.' He gently hugs Sonic's torso, both boys still on the ground. Thankfully metals face is now at about Sonics chest height.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> He keeps laughing indicating this is all in good fun. Maybe he does have a bit of a crush on this filthy fucking paragon. He may not grasp what a crush is but he can't help but enjoy Sonic's presence. Opening up to him feels natural. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Without the looming threat of Eggman's supervision Metal really does act like a full fledged person.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Seeing how free Metal was being, just the two of them, it clicked in Sonic's head that there was a pattern to it. In locations that were private or secluded, the robot would be more open, but when there was risk of Eggman barging in to ruin the fun, he was cold and distant and reserved. This was pretty obvious, looking back at it in hindsight, and it wasn't even that surprising. Of course Metal would be more cautious when he might be seen by his creator at any moment. Of course Metal would be more open and relaxed during the times that threat didn't exist.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Returning the gentle hug with one arm, Sonic used his other arm to push them up into a sitting position, his smile still wide but a bit softer than before. Seeing this side of Metal more clearly... well, it made him even more determined to help the other, than he's already been. If there was one thing that Sonic could say he honestly hated with all his guts, it was oppression, and he wouldn't stand for *anyone* to suffer it under his watch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm happy you're having fun," he said, his voice a little bit softer than it had been moments earlier. "I'm having fun too."</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Comments are always appreciated.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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